1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circulating type conveyer passage disposed along an eating and drinking counter for conveying food and drink, and more specifically, to a food and drink circulating conveyer passage provided with opening and closing doors for preventing food on the conveyer passage from becoming dry and foreign matters from depositing on the food.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been widely used circulating type eating and drinking counters provided with an endless circulating type food conveyer passage disposed along the counter for conveying vessels placed thereon such as plates and the like in which commodities, for example, food and drink such as "sushi" and the like are served because customers can eat and drink and cooks can cook without the need of movement and further the customers can eat and drink while selecting desired commodities at their seats.
In the eating and drinking counters arranged as described above, there is a distance from a kitchen from which food such as sushi and the like as a commodity is charged to a place where the customers exist as well as there is a possibility that the food becomes dry and foreign matters such as dusts and insects are deposited thereon because the conveyer passage circulates. To cope with this problem, there is employed a method of conveying the vessels such as the plates and the like by covering them with upset-bowl-shaped lid members. In this case, the customers eat and drink by taking out the vessels in which food is served from the conveyer passage together with the lid members and placing them on the counter.
However, the method of using the lid member is troublesome because the customers must remove the lid members from the vessels each time they eat and drink and the removed lid members are obstructive to eating. Further, since the lid members must be washed when necessary likewise the vessels, a lot of manpower and a considerable cost are necessary to wash them as well as since the lid member must be placed on the vessel when food is charged onto the conveyer passage, a troublesome job is required by it.
To solve the above problem, there has been recently proposed a method of conveying food and drink on a conveyer passage by shutting off them from the outside by providing a cover member for entirely covering the upper portion of the conveyer passage and permitting customers to eat and drink desired food and drink by taking out them through opening/closing portions formed to the cover member.
The cover member, however, must be periodically cleaned and washed to keep it sanitary because stains, foreign matters and the like are deposited thereon when it is used. Since, however, the conventional cover member is fixed or even if it is arranged to be removable, it is troublesome to remove the cover member, there is a problem that it is difficult to execute maintenance of the cover member such as cleaning, washing and the like.
When the cover member is arranged to be removable, there is a possibility that it is removed by a customer when he or she opens or closes an opening/closing portion, if an excessive force is applied thereto at the time. Thus, there is a problem that when the cover member is composed of glass or the like, it may be broken if it is carelessly removed and this is dangerous to the customer.
Further, since the cover member is composed of a transparent material such as, for example, acryl, glass or the like so that food and drink which is being conveyed can be visually confirmed from the outside, there is a problem that when the transparent material is transported by being equipped with a conveyer passage, the transparent material is liable to be scratched.
An object of the present invention made in view of the above problems is to provide a food and drink circulating conveyer passage provided with opening and closing doors, the conveyer passage being arranged such that maintenance such as washing and cleaning can be easily carried out to it, there is not a possibility that a cover member and the like are carelessly removed and they are not scratched while transported.